Name Jonathan Riley-Smith | ||
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Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith, GCStJ, FRHistS (27 June 1938 – 13 September 2016) was a historian of the Crusades, and a former Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History. He was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
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Provenance and early life
He was eldest of four children born into a prosperous Yorkshire brewing family. His maternal grandfather (to whose memory he later dedicated his book What Were the Crusades?) was the British Conservative Party MP, John Craik-Henderson (1890-1971).
He attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA (1960), MA (1964), PhD (1964), and LittD (2001).
Academic career
During his career, Riley-Smith taught at the University of St Andrews, Queens' College, Cambridge, Royal Holloway College, London as well as at Trinity College. His many respected publications on the origins of the crusading movement and the motivations of the first crusaders have deeply influenced current historiography of the crusades.
He was appointed a Knight of Grace and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem.
Personal life
Riley-Smith was a convert to Catholicism. He married Louise Field, a portrait artist, in 1968. Their three recorded children include the singer/songwriter Polly Paulusma.
Jonathan Riley-Smth died on 13 September 2016.
Evaluation
In an appreciative obituary a senior colleague described Riley-Smith as "quite simply the leading historian of the crusades [of his generation] anywhere in the world".
Works
Books: